This is a topic that I’ve thought a lot about since I first started looking for places to live permanently. I came up with my top eight cities that I could live near based on certain community features using Coldwell Banker ‘Best Places to Live‘.

After selecting which is more your style – Suburbanite or Social Seeker – you can get a basic list of top cities in those categories once you select a state. OR using the Lifestyle Search there are areas of consideration [Hip & Trendy, A+ Schools, Transit, Price, Art & Music, Amenities, Fresh Air vs. Times Square, and Fairways] that you rate on a scale of importance [slightly to very]. You must choose the state you’re interested in looking in and can narrow down to county and/or nearby metro, but that’s not required.

The best site though is called Find Your Spot, which covers a broad range of topics and narrows down your location and choices to create a large list of places for you to browse through. Downside – you have to create an account.

weather & climate – Do you like cold, snowy winters? Hot, humid summers?
culture – museums, zoos, theaters & performances.
school, health, & travel – public or private? Need a big hospital? Major nearby airports a must?
great outdoors – beach, camping, fishing, mountain biking, etc.
location, location, location: small, medium or large city? are crime rates important? pick a region of the US to consider as well as general geography types you want to avoid.
demographics – local organizations, high Spanish speaking community, LGBT support, etc.
religion – how important is it to have it in your community?
housing – target housing cost, rental rates, and taxes.

Using this criteria for me definitely narrowed down my results to help pick a city for me to live in. I want a Suburban-Urban location in either Michigan, Colorado, Florida, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Washington, or Tennessee. Average cost for a nice house should be no more than $350,000. Rentals – max $1300/month for a house or $900 for a large 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. I love sun and warmth so having a mild climate would be nice, but I’ve lived in all types of weather and can adapt.

As far as activities go, I don’t really do nightclubs but that would be fun to try. Movie theaters are a must. Museums would be nice to check out but not a necessity. Outdoorsy things would be fun, like nearby hiking, biking, camping, etc., but could be a couple hours drive away. Traveling is big in my life so access to a major airport is kinda important. Having a big hospital nearby is big also because that’s where I want to work! Crime should be low in the area I live, I want to feel safe. A community college should be close by to take classes for advancing my degree. A university would be nice but there are lots of online programs to choose from.

That’s pretty much it for my ideal place to live! It’s pretty broad but in short I want a nice place in a suburb of a metropolitan city. One day when I settle down it’ll happen but for now I’ll keep checking out the places for potential schools and living locations.

Plinky makes it easy for you to create inspired content. Every day we provide a prompt (i.e. a question or challenge) and you answer. We make it simple to add rich media and share your answers on Facebook, Twitter and blogs.

Plinky was originally created by Thing Labs, was acquired by Automattic in 2010 and shutdown on September 1st, 2014.